Album Review: Flamingo Pier – Flamingo Pier (Soundway)
Since 2015 Flamingo Pier have been running dance parties in London and, more recently, an annual boutique event on Waiheke Island. To coincide with the 2019 Waiheke Island event they released their self titled debut EP and this was followed a year later by a second EP, Indigo. These eight tracks showed that they could […]
Album Review: Natalie Bergman – Mercy (Third Man Records)
The heavenly voice of Natalie Bergman emanates into the light with her solo debut album Mercy. The uplifting gospel is steeped in Christianity yet alludes to a universal soul-searching for spiritual answers with contemporary transcendent sonics.
Reissue Review: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Mixes (Apple)
John Lennon’s stark, startling solo album gets the once-over 50 years after its initial release with newly-heard outtakes.
EP Review: Keeley Shade Give Me Time
New artist Keeley Shade has released her debut EP. It’s a small gem of Folk Pop meditative music which also dances softly with the deeper influences of Country. All five tracks shimmer and radiate out, from slow and quiet to rise in dramatic tension.
Album Review: Tom Jones – Surrounded By Time (EMI)
One thing to be said about Surrounded By Time…this is not your mother’s (or grandmother’s) Tom Jones album.
Album Review: Swallow The Rat / Clone – Split (Headbump)
In February 2020 the Auckland based Swallow The Rat and the Brooklyn based Clone were both on the east coast of the USA. The bands were touring and going to share the stage at the SXSW festival but the pandemic meant all their plans were abruptly halted. Despite this setback the bands established a strong […]
Album Review: The Chills – Scatterbrain (Fire)
2015’s album Silver Bullets was a good start for The Chills second career and 2018’s Snowbound was very well received. We are now at the difficult third album stage for a band whose first career was all about making things difficult for themselves.
Album Review: Malcolm Black – Songs For The Family
Malcolm Black is best known to most of us for the 1985 Netherworld Dancing Toys anthem For Today but in the years since his has significantly contributed to NZ music as a A&R director, Entertainment Director, Manager of Neil Finn, label co-owner and more. This album was born from a rush of creativity in 2018 […]
Album Review: Squid – Bright Green Field (Warp)
There is research that shows that people driving and listening to techno music drive a bit faster, and that people driving most safely are probably listening to Norah Jones. If you notice a driver near you spin into reverse, turn on all their lights, speed up and overtake you before slamming on the brakes and […]
Album Review: Spawts – Clicks & Whistles
Wandering off into uncharted territory, SPAWTS release their newest EP, Clicks & Whistles, showcasing their new direction of melody, composition and instrumentation which seems to have worked a bloody charm.
Album Review: Iron and Wine – Archive Series No. 5: Tallahassee Recordings (Sub Pop)
In the nineteen years since the release of his first album The Creek That Drank The Cradle, Sam Beam, better known as Iron and Wine, has moved from his neo folk beginnings to incorporate elements of R&B, Jazz and Electronica. He has also released collaborations with Jessica Hoop, Calexico and Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses).
Album Review: Luke Haines – Setting the Dogs on the Post Punk Postman (Cherry Red)
By the time you are in your fifties it’s good to have been shortlisted for the Mercury prize, appeared on Top of the Pops and written a critically praised autobiography. Luke Haines has done all of these, he was the lead singer of The Auters, who missed out on the Mercury Prize to Suede in […]
Album Review: Chris Cain – Raisin’ Cain (Alligator)
Blues man Chris Cain’s latest, Raisin’ Cain is a helluva knockout album.
Album Review: Julia Stone – Sixty Summers (BMG)
This is an album that begins and ends with a dance. This may be surprising as Julia Stone is most well known as half of the folk pop duo with her brother Angus Stone and her outstanding ability to play the trumpet one handed whilst holding a guitar. The folk lyrics of love, the trumpet, […]
Album Review: Fleetwood Mac – Live (Super Deluxe Edition) (Rhino/Warners)
Upon seeing that the Fleetwood Mac had a mammoth 35 tracks, three-CDs and 2 LPs long live special edition coming out, one may ask, why? But then the first notes of Monday Morning hit and we remember because, nothing in the entire world beats live music and nothing beats Fleetwood Mac in their prime.
Album Review: Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi – They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi are staking out their own genre. Drawing on music from different places and centuries they have created an album that serves as a guide to making sense and surviving during these times of pandemic and isolation.
Album Review: L7 – Wargasm: The Slash Years 1992-1997 (Cherry Red)
With Smashing Pumpkins, Alanis Morissette, Green Day and Foo Fighters still cranking out new albums, sometimes it feels as though the 90s never ended. So, what better time to revisit the output of one of that decade’s most underrated bands, L7.
Album Review: Sheep, Dog & Wolf – Two Minds (Aphrodite)
Sheep, Dog & Wolf is the artistic name adopted by Daniel McBride, whose Two Minds ends a seven year hiatus. These songs are in equal part chants and poems set to complex and deliciously repetitive rhythms. The eight-track song cycle is exquisite and, as a collection, feel like invitations into expansive meditative and emotional landscapes.
Album Review: Flock Of Dimes – Head Of Roses (Sub Pop)
Wye Oak singer, songwriter, producer and multi-skilled instrumentalist Jenn Wasner released her second album as Flock Of Dimes this month. Head of Roses is a collaborative effort conceived and born during the pandemic lockdown, when she had time to delve introspectively into her broken relationship/s. The result – a beautifully cathartic dance of sorrow, pain […]
Album Review: The Antlers – Green To Gold (Anti-)
If you’re waiting for The Antlers’ Green To Gold, to rock out, well don’t.